


Concerning Affections

by ShadowHachia



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23714041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowHachia/pseuds/ShadowHachia
Relationships: Male Hawke & Female Trevelyan, Male Hawke/Female Trevelyan, Male Hawke/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	Concerning Affections

**Title:** Concerning Affections  
 **Fandom:** Dragon Age | Inquisition  
 **Characters:** Ophelia Trevelyan, Garrett Hawke, Cullen Rutherford, Cassandra Pentaghast  
 **Pairing:** Garrett Hawke x Ophelia Trevelyan  
 **Ratings:** K+  
 **Warnings:** N/A  
 **Author Notes:** This was a lot of fun to write!! I can't wait to get the chance to write about these kiddos again sometime!! <3

It had been a few months since the Inquisition's arrival to Skyhold. The chaos hadn't stopped since Haven. Between Corypheus appearing to destroy the Inquisition's temporary headquarters, to his army slowly amassing and then him having an Archdemon. Just everything about the dark being was so unbelievable and disjointed. Unfortunately, the trouble didn't stop entirely once the Inquisition had relocated to Skyhold. It only began to build up. More and more problems sprouted from Corypheus' growing reign of terror and the pressure to stop it was overwhelming. Ophelia Trevelyan, was feeling that pressure the most. She wore a brave face to put on a facade, to convince everyone that everything was okay. Maybe even herself too but being that she was the Inquisitor, she doubted that.

It wasn't entirely bad, she knew she wasn't alone. She had her friends, companions, and various other allies willing to help her and the Inquisition. One of those allies that wanted to help were the twins from Kirkwall, the two Champions that saved the city from a Qunari attack and felled their Arishok as well. Everyone in Thedas knew of them and Varric Tethras invited them to Skyhold, simply to help the Inquisition. It was met with some disregard at first, but the help Marian and Garrett Hawke brought was immensely productive. The twins' experience in their struggle to keep Kirkwall safe was enough to help and bring a different perspective on things. Originally, they were brought in to find where the Grey Wardens had disappeared to and what Corypheus' influence on them was. Though, they had split up the work. Marian searched for the Grey Wardens while Garrett stuck around the Inquisition and helped train, advise, and do whatever he could to help.

Ophelia appreciated it, to say the least. Having another person around to alleviate some of the stress was always good. Though that was a few months ago and Garrett was still hanging around. He spent time getting to know everyone and trying to raise the moral a bit as well. Having a well-known warrior amongst them did raise the Inquisition's spirits as well as dampened them. Though that was because of what happened in the last major conflict he and his sister were involved in -- which resulted in the Mage Rebellion. Although, there were numerous causes, most people did put the blame on them. Either for ease, ignorance, or for whatever reason they could think of. Ophelia didn't really blame them, formerly being a member of the Ostwick Circle. She understood the hardships of the mages and knew that a rebellion, or something like it, would have happened sooner or later.

"You seem to be spacing out." Someone said to Ophelia. She blinked out of her daze and looked towards the voice's owner. It was Garrett, he was giving her a slightly concerned look. His brows tentatively raised as he searched her face.

"Oh, yeah. I just needed to think some things over." She said, as she laughed nervously. "Taking a break and all that too."

"Breaks are good." He mused as he leaned against the stone wall next to her. She had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, that she didn't even know how she got to the upper battlements. She assumed she was just walking around aimlessly again and didn't bother making a deal out of it. "So what are you thinking so hard about?"

"Huh?" She asked, looking at him quizzically.

"Your face was all scrunched up." He explained, a sly smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You know, furrowed eyebrows, looking aimlessly at the sky, and what not. Marian gets that same look on her face sometimes too."

"Oh, uh..." Ophelia looked away from him, feeling flustered. "I er... was just thinking about what recently happened since Haven and so on."

"A lot's happened in a small time." He nodded.

"If you say "Just like in Kirkwall"..." She chuckled in a teasing manner.

"Well, I suppose we've been spending too much time together." He laughed heartily. "I was going to say, like most things. Although, the Kirkwall one works too. At least the Qunari are on your side."

Ophelia just nodded in response and shyly looked away from him as he looked at her. His smile just felt like too much sometimes. Him being near her or talking even. She just felt like nothing else existed, all her concerns and even the current situation all seemed to sit second fiddle when Garrett was around. She felt butterflies in her stomach, her throat felt tight, and and she felt giddy. Like all the girls in those fairy tales being with the prince that rescued them from towers, overbearing parents, or from the spell they had been casted under. She just wanted to tell him how he made her feel... but that was its own challenge. Not to mention, he might not feel the same. So being rejected and casted away...

"You're doing it again." Garrett said as he gave her another concerned look. "Everything okay?"

"Y-yeah." She stammered. "I should go and see if Leliana has any news about Corypheus' whereabouts."

Garrett nodded as she left and she could feel his gaze on her as she departed from the battlements. She didn't want to leave him. She wanted to stay near him some more, to talk to him endlessly or even listen to his voice. Just any reason to be near him. It'd been like this since he and his sister arrived at Skyhold. She just felt so taken by him from when she first met him. After becoming friends with him, the feelings didn't stop building up. The more she got to know him, the more she liked him. Even when she was away fighting the Venatori and the Red Templars, her thoughts always drifted to him. Both inspiring and distracting her from her tasks. She did talk to Varric about her feelings for Garrett, feeling Varric being someone she could talk to at least. Dorian eventually as well, though it was more him prying into her own business about it. They just shared the same advice, to tell Garrett how she feels about him but again, it seemed impossible.

Garrett's eyes stuck on Ophelia as she walked away. He just sighed happily after seeing her silhouette disappear. She had this effect on him that he hadn't felt in a long while. Even among his friends before they all drifted away. She pulled at him but he wasn't sure if he should give in to the feeling. He knew she felt the same way simply by her reactions. Looking away from him, acting flustered and embarrassed, not to mention Varric might have mentioned it a few times in passing. He knew but he was afraid. Not that she'd reject the feelings they obviously shared for one another, but he didn't want to lose her. Bethany and his mother's deaths were still felt fresh in his mind, the scars they left still ached. He knew they would always ache but he didn't want to go through that again. Ophelia had a lot to live up to and he didn't want to be the reason she was distracted or hesitant over whatever decisions she had to make.

"Sir?" A soldier called out to Garrett. He looked over to the soldier, noticing him wincing and looking nervous.

"Yes?" Garrett replied, after a few moments of an awkward silence.

"C-Commander Cullen wanted to s-see you, sir." The soldier stammered.

Garrett nodded, dismissing the soldier, and looked at the courtyard. He could see the Commander staring back at him with a scowl. Why he was giving such a look was beyond Garrett. The last time he saw the Commander was about a year ago, after everything went to crazy and so on. Some of those unpleasant memories sifted to the surface of his mind, just for a moment at least. Cullen grimaced and looked back at the troops around him as they ran through their drills. Garret, on the other hand, continued to lean against the stone wall in front of him for a few more moments. He pushed himself away from the wall then started making his way towards the courtyard. Watching the soldiers and Cullen as if they were about to summon The Maker Himself.

Garrett's eyes drifted towards the soldiers, watching them practicing their drills. Block, lunge, strike, block, lunge, strike, block, lunge, strike, and on it went. He remembered seeing the same drills in Kirkwall whenever he passed through The Gallows. Different armor, same stances. His eyes then moved towards Cullen again, noticing the same grimace on the Commander's face once more. What was he so upset about? Surely still not holding a grudge from their last encounter together. As Garrett remembered it, Cullen was right at Marian's side during the fight against Meredith. He was just as intent on protecting Kirkwall from her madness and the power she wielded from the red lyrium. Garrett reached the bottom of the stairs and walked into the courtyard, right up to Cullen.

"You wanted to see me?" He said.

"I did." Cullen nodded, motioning towards a table nearby. Garrett walked with him and waited as he walked around the other side of the table. Watching as the other man moved some of the reports idly before looking up at Garrett with a rather piercing stare.

"It has come to my attention that you and the Inquisitor are... well, becoming rather close." He finally said, for what felt like an eternity.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Garrett scoffed. "What we do in our time, is _our_ business."

"It _is_ my business actually." Cullen said, rather defensively. "Because if she were to be distracted in the middle of fighting Corypheus' forces because of whatever false promise you've made to her, she could get hurt or, Maker forbid, get herself killed."

"She won't get herself killed." Garrett replied, anger seething in his mind at the presumption. "She can handle herself just fine and she's never alone. She has people watching her back."

"And what happens if they're watching her back and not your's?" Cullen continued. "She's going to be out there, fighting for whatever keeps her going. If she turns around to see you injured, she'll act out of turn and risk herself to save you."

"She's no--"

"She's not fragile?" Cullen scoffed. "I realize that. I'm more than aware of what the Inquisitor can and cannot do. But I know what happens when people get involved with one another. It's harmless at first, but then you worry. You worry about all the things that might happen and overlook the things that won't. Irrationality comes into that as well and the next thing you know, you're both dead or wishing one of you was dead."

Garrett was taken aback by Cullen's lecture. He wasn't wrong... not entirely. He had caught himself wondering about Ophelia's safety whenever she left for missions outside of Skyhold. The moment she got back, he felt relieved to see she was safe and sound. Knowing she felt the same about him, Garrett only wondered if she worried about him in the same manner. Cullen was right to be a little peeved about this. Ophelia had to be at the top of her game, the less burdens she had to worry over, the better. The reiteration of how much she reminded him of his sister only made what Cullen said sink in a little deeper.

"Besides, if something like what happened with Anders were to happen again, could you really forgive yourself if the Inquisitor was caught up in it?" Cullen mumbled quietly.

Garrett just snapped his head to look at the other man. A flare of anger arose within him and he was more than aware that was Cullen's intention. To get a rise out of him, to provoke him for whatever reason. Unfortunately for them both, Cullen's bluff was very effective. Garrett stepped towards the Commander and punched him in the face without a second thought. Cullen was caught off-guard by the initial action but steadied himself and covered his hand over his jaw -- where Garrett had struck him. They stared at one another for a moment, too busy studying one another to notice the silent but growing crowd around them. The soldiers had all stopped what they were doing and had turned to see what was going to happen next.

The silence was filled with chants for a fight, many of the specters around them curious about the outcome. Although, The Iron Bull might've encouraged the crowd, they still carried on regardless. The revelry could be heard as it reverberated through the walls of Skyhold. Gathering even more people until Ophelia could hear a couple of servants talking about it as they ran to see what was going on. She raised a brow and followed them. They left the grandiose interior to look at the chaos below them from the upper balconies. Ophelia looked over the stone guardrail and felt her heart skip a beat. She could recognize Cullen and Garrett from the crowd below her. Immediately she set out towards them. Ophelia raced down the stairs, going as fast as she could until she bumped into Cassandra Pentaghast.

"C-Cassandra." Ophelia panted breathlessly.

"Inquisitor?" The other woman asked, giving her a quizzical look. "What's going on?"

"Cullen and Garrett are..." Ophelia tried to say through breaths. She eventually pointed towards the nearby window. Cassandra walked towards it and looked out. The moment she had, she watched as Cassandra sped away. Thin trails of smoke following the woman as she marched down the stairs.

Ophelia continued her descent towards the courtyard and arrived just in time to see Cassandra scolding both men. The crowd had dispersed, parts of them lingering just to watch the dressing down the Seeker was giving them. Although, Ophelia knew that Cassandra's attention might turn to those around them as well. Simply because the crowd of people didn't stop the fight and only incited it.

"You two should know better than that." Cassandra said, sounding like a disappointed mother. "You're both respected warriors and fighting like that is below you both." Garrett opened his mouth to say something but was only silenced by the seething look Cassandra gave him. He dipped his head towards the ground, opting to keep whatever he was about to say to himself.

"You both have work to do, do it." She said, the finality in her tone sending shivers down everyone's spine -- even Ophelia as she approached them. Cullen looked at Garrett and walked off towards his office. Ophelia approached Garrett and saw a cut accompanied by red splotches on his face.

"Come on, I'll patch you up." She offered as she took his hand and started to walk off.

She decided to simply go up to her room. She figured the seclusion would be preferred while Garrett cooled off a bit. During the walk to her room, Ophelia just felt upset that he had even been apart of something like that. Regardless of what it was about, the fact that he and Cullen were duking it out in front of everyone was just foolish to her. They could've gotten seriously hurt or something could've went wrong. All the possibilities streamed through her mind and all of them worse than the last. She was disappointed in him, though. Expecting a little better than to just start a fight. Once they were in her room, she told him to sit down as she searched for her medical kit to clean up the cut on his face. When she returned, she joined him at her desk. The sun lighting up the room and making the colors from the stained glass windows dance across them both.

Ophelia pursed her lips as she cleaned the cut on his cheek. Garrett just chuckled lightly at her resentment. He had leaned towards her, showing her the left side of his face. The cut stung as she lightly brushed it but it wasn't like anything else he'd been through. He knew she was mad at him and just casted his eyes towards the ground. She, however, stole whatever glances at him as much as she could. Whether it was because she was mad or just her feelings for him, she couldn't say. She knew just looking at him helped a little. Using the rag in her hand, she lightly padded the blood away from his face. 

"You should've been more careful." She said.

"I..." He sighed, in a defeated manner. "You're right. I get carried away sometimes."

Ophelia didn't know what to say. She had a lot of feelings. Most of them disscontempt, concern, and something else as well. She just looked at him through the shade of her eyelashes for a second. She looked away and put the rag down. She turned towards the table next to her, grabbing the ointment from the kit she had. She scooped a little of the light colored cream on her pinky finger and then looked back at Garrett's cut.

"This is going to sting a little." She warned before lightly pressing her finger against him. He hissed then chuckled once more.

"You know, it's a little ironic you don't know any healing spells." He jested as a slight jolt of electricity shot through him. "For being a mage that is."

"Let's be glad I know how to dress a wound." She replied, scoffing at his remark.

The silence between them felt like it was going on for an eternity. Despite only a few seconds passing by, she couldn't stand the time dragging by so slowly. She tried to think of something to distract her but instead her eyes glanced across his face. The red splotch of skin under her finger just seemed to ruin how perfect he looked. She furrowed her eyebrows for a moment as she thought about that but then jumped a little before she could process it. She felt his hand brush against her face. It was soft and tentative as he pushed a few strands of her dark red hair behind her ear. She looked up at him again and their eyes connected. They didn't shy away this time but she could hear her heart beating loudly in her ears. Like it'd be the last thing she'd ever hear.

Garrett's hand lingered for a moment before resting on her cheek, caressing it. She swallowed silently, searching between his golden eyes. Looking for something to tell her what to do next. The space between them closed until their noses were grazing against one another. He leaned forward, pressing his lips to her's. It was for a moment but it gave her all she needed to return the favor. She raised her free hand, tangling her fingers into his dark hair. She wanted this moment to last, to feel like it would never end. As ephemeral as the feeling was, she just wanted more of it. The feeling was chaste, fleeting, and curious. The rough feeling of his lips against her felt foreign but welcoming as well. They pulled away a second later but remained just a hair strand apart. Looking at one another with half-lidded eyes, curious as to what would occur next.

They stared for a moment longer before kissing again, this time more passion than unsure. He shifted his weight, readjusting himself as he leaned against the edge of her desk. He used his other hand to pull her towards him. The seconds of bliss continued for a moment before Garrett winced away from her. She looked at him in bewilderment before realizing he was holding his face, where the cut was.

"I'm so sorry!" She blurted, feeling embarrassed. She finished dressing his wound, placing a small bandage over it. The wound bled through the absorbent material, making a thin red line. That's all it had done, however. After she put the kit away, pushing the box onto her desk, she heard him chuckling again. She looked over to see him reaching for her face again, cupping his hand in her cheek. His thumb drawing small circles into her skin. She just smiled shyly.

"So what now?" She asked, having forgot the reason he was even in her room to begin with.

"So now we talk I suppose." He sighed. "About us."


End file.
